Dr. Bruna Foletto Lucas
Early career researcher focused on horror film and gender studies
About me
Dr. Bruna Foletto Lucas (FHEA) is an early career researcher focusing on the intersections of horror and gender. She is currently a Lecturer in Film & TV Theory and Critical Studies at the University of Hertfordshire.
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Her first manuscript, Reclaiming Horror: Women and the Future of the Genre, is under contract with Edinburgh University Press.
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My Research
PhD (2020-2024), Kingston University London, title of thesis: ‘Reclaiming Horror: Understanding the Paradigm Shift of Female Representation in Horror Films’
MA with Distinction (2016-2017), Kingston University London, title of dissertation: ‘Women’s Collective Nightmare: A Look at Horror Films Directed By Women’
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Certificate in Filmmaking by London Film Academy in 2015
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2025
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Horror Studies Now
Paper presenter: 'From Coffin Joe to the Present: Subversion and Resistance in Brazilian Horror'
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2024
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A Nightmare on Elm Street: 40th Anniversary Conference
Keynote speaker: '"I am your boyfriend now": A Nightmare on Elm Street, Wes Craven and the Rape-Revenge Film'
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Romancing the Gothic
Talk presenter: 'The Female Body in Rape-Revenge(-Trauma) Narratives'
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Sex, Scandal, and Sensation Conference
Paper presenter: 'Rape: To show or not to Show - That is the Question'
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Horror Studies Now
Paper presenter: 'Unveiling Socio-Political Horrors: Analysing Anita Rocha da Silveira's Medusa'​
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"Trauma and Nightmare" 7th International Interdisciplinary Conference
Paper presenter: ''Someone's losing the plot': Female Madness Unravelled'
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Research Seminar Kingston University
​Paper presenter: ''Someone's losing the plot': Female Madness Unravelled'
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2023
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Sex in Contemporary Media: An Interdisciplinary Conference
Paper presenter: 'The shift in the representations of rape in female-directed horror films'
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Fear2000: Horror Uncaged
'Special event' organiser and speaker: New Horror Histories: Video Essays on Women in Horror
Video essay: ‘Consumida / Consumed: An Analysis of the Many Roles of Clara in As Boas Maneiras’ (3:49min)
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Doing Women’s Film and Television History VI
Collaborator: Doing Women's (Global) (Horror) Film History: A Roundtable and Screening
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Horror Studies Now
Paper presenter: 'Reclaiming Horror: Understanding the Paradigm Shift of Female Representation in Horror Films'​
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Final Girls Berlin Film Festival
Talk presenter: 'The current revolution of women-directed rape-revenge narratives’
2022
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Cine-Excess: Reframing the Monsters Outside: Mavericks, Rebels and Rulebreakers in Cult Film
Paper presenter: ‘Debra Hill: Reframing the Debate’
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Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies London
Lecture: ‘An Exploration of the evolution of the monstrous-feminine’
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BAFTSS Horror Studies Special Interest Group
Panelist: REANIMATED: THE CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN HORROR REMAKE - book launch and panel discussion
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Fear2000: Horror Undying
Paper presenter: ‘“Oh Relax, It’s Just Magic”: The (R)evolution of The Craft and The Craft: Legacy’
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5th "TRAUMA AND NIGHTMARE" International Interdisciplinary Conference
Paper presenter: ‘Exploring Trauma in Rape-Revenge Narratives’
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Research Seminar Kingston University
Presenter: ‘Woman and Horror: Reframing the Debate (a work in progress)’
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Cine-Excess 15: Bodies as Battlegrounds: Disruptive Sexualities in Cult Cinema
Paper presenter: ‘Doubles, Mirrors and Power: Is Female Sexuality Inherently Monstrous?’
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Fear2000: Fear Unbound
Paper presenter: ‘The conundrum of ‘a feminist take on a horror classic’ – Feminism and the Horror Distribution Landscape’
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The Slasher Studies Summer Camp
Paper presenter: '"We will never bow down!”: How Black Christmas subverts the tropes of the slasher subgenre and offers a possibility for feminist filmmaking’
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Kingston University, London, KSA PGR Colloquium
Paper Presenter: ‘Is Female Sexuality Inherently Monstrous?: A Look at How Female Representation Has Been Changing in Horror Films’
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BAFTSS Horror Studies Special Interest Group
Organiser and panellist: ‘Bringing Female Authorship to the Forefront’
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Publications
Academic
Foletto Lucas, Bruna (forthcoming) Reclaiming Horror: Women and the Future of the Genre. Edinburgh University Press.
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Foletto Lucas, Bruna (forthcoming) ‘The Avenging Superego: The Undying Monster of the Black Christmas Films’, in Bacon, Simon (ed.) Undead Christmas: Essays on Demons, Zombies and the Undying Spirit of Yuletide on Screen (Lehigh University Press).
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Foletto Lucas, Bruna (2025) '“I didn’t sin, momma”: Female monstrosity and feminist complexities in Carrie (1976) and Carrie (2013)', Scaffold: Journal of the Institute of Comparative Studies in Literature, Arts and Culture, 2(1), 30–42.
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Foletto Lucas, Bruna (2024) ‘’The Witch Forever Lives’: Redefining the Path for Empowered Final Girls in the Trilogy Fear Street’, in Bacon, Simon (ed.) Heroic Girls as Figures of Resistance and Futurity in Popular Culture, London: Routledge.
Foletto Lucas, Bruna (2024) ‘CONSUMIDA/CONSUMED: THE MANY ROLES OF CLARA IN GOOD MANNERS (2018)’, MAI: Feminism & Visual Culture, (13), available at: https://maifeminism.com/consumida-consumed-the-many-roles-of-clara-in-good-manners-2018/
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Foletto Lucas, Bruna (2021) ‘Review: Women Make Horror: Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre (edited by Alison Peirse)’, The Dark Arts Journal, available at: https://thedarkartsjournal.wordpress.com/2021/03/26/review-women-make-horror-filmmaking-feminism-genre/
Foletto Lucas, Bruna (2021) ‘Review of Phases of the Moon: A Cultural History of the Werewolf Film, Craig Ian Mann, Edinburth University Press, 2020, 272pp.’, Monstrum, 4, pp.122-125, available at: https://www.monstrum-society.ca/uploads/4/1/7/5/41753139/lucas.mann_-_phases_of_the_moon_-_monstrum_4.pdf
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Non-Academic
Shortlisted for
BAFTSS PGR Poster Showcase 2024
